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THE 



VALLEY OF ACHOR, 



OR 



HOPE IN TROUBLE. 



BY THE 

REV. s! S. SflEDDAN. 




PHILADELPHIA: 
PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION, 
NO. 821 CHESTNUT STREET. 

C/fff2 , 



.$35 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1858, by 

JAMES DUNLAP, Teeas., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court for the Eastern District 

of Pennsylvania. 






THE 



" The valley of Achor for a door of hope." — Hosea 
ii. 15. 

How strange the arrangement, that the day- 
should rise from the bosom of night! — Yet 
more astonishing how grace brings light out 
of darkness, joy out of sorrow, and hope out 
of trouble. 

Nothing seems more clearly written upon 
the workings of providence, and the economy 
of grace, than the scripture truth, " God's 
ways are not as our ways, nor his thoughts, 
as our thoughts." 

With a singularity peculiarly divine, he 
makes sweet waters to gush from Marah — 
he makes the vineyards to bud and give 

(3) 



4 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

their clusters in the wilderness — in the night 
he gives songs of joy, and in Zion's hour of 
desertion he speaks comfortably unto her. 
In workings that are divine extremes strange- 
ly meet. 

Achor means trouble, and is the name given 
to a valley between Jericho and Ai, where 
Israel were greatly troubled because of the 
sin of Achan. Israel, flushed by their first 
and easy conquest in Canaan, were disap- 
pointed and humbled at Ai, and their dis- 
comfiture was overruled to their purity and 
success. Upon the seventh day, at the seven 
times repeated blasts of the rams-horns, the 
walls of Jericho fell, and Israel, forgetting 
that Omnipotence there worked for them, 
proudly said, " Let about two or three thou- 
sand go up, and smite Ai, and make not all 
the people labour thither, for they are but 
few." But their dishonoured God withdrew 
his hand, and the men of Ai smote them, 
"and the hearts of the people melted, and 
became as water." 

Hopeless and despondent, Joshua fell to the 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 5 

earth, and said, " Alas ! Lord God, where- 
fore hast thou at all brought this people over 
Jordan to deliver us into the hands of the 
Amorites to destroy us ? Would to God we 
had been content, and dwelt on the other 
side Jordan." "With dust upon their heads, 
Joshua and the elders lie with their faces to 
the earth, their strength overcome, their self- 
confidence destroyed, and Canaan's door 
apparently closed against them. Their feet 
had just joyously touched the threshold of 
the promised land, when they slip ; the pro- 
mise darkens, the enemy too strong, their 
God angry, and they unexpectedly in the 
valley of Achor. 

The wilderness had not taken away all of 
Israel's self-confidence and covetousness. 
The easy conquest, the silver and gold of 
Jericho gave importance to self, and strength 
to covetousness ; and the door is closed, until 
they learn to lean upon God, and put away 
the accursed things of Canaan. By this re- 
verse, the people were humbled, Achan found 
out and put to death, and Israel sanctified, 
1* 



6 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

then God opens up a door and leads them 
on, and fights for them, and gives them the 
city and the people of Ai, and in the valley 
of Achor was opened a door of hope. Their 
weakness was their strength, their defeat was 
their triumph. 

This light coming out of darkness was not 
the exclusive property of Joshua and the 
Israel of his day. Hosea seizes upon the 
very figure, that lies in this history, and 
holds it up as a gracious promise to tossed 
and afflicted Zion of his time. It is a de- 
lightful truth that still lives, a cheering pro- 
mise hung out wherever the heavens gather 
darkly over any of God's children. It is 
the gushing well opened just at the fainting 
hour in the wilderness. It is the angel's 
voice, when the victim is bound and the 
knife lifted. 

Neither from the history of Israel, nor 
from the divine promises can we gather any 
assurance, that the people of God shall not 
be brought into " the valley of Achor ;" for 
it is especially true, " many are the afflictions 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 7 

of the righteous." The heavenly promise 
is hope in trouble. 

" The valley of Achor for a door of hope" 
is a divine paradox, mostly and rightly ap- 
plied to the dealings of God with his chil- 
dren. It is also strikingly verified in the 
dawning of faith in the heart of the peni- 
tent. 

The " strait gate" stands at " the valley of 
Achor," and there it stands open. Human 
reason cannot well comprehend the arrange- 
ments of grace, — that hopelessness begets 
hope, and bitter turns to sweet, and trouble 
to peace. How God humbles that he may 
exalt ! How he empties that he may fill ! 

The history of God's providences with 
straying Israel in the days of Hosea, re- 
markably describes his gracious leadings of 
the soul to penitence. 

Many were the idols and lovers of back- 
sliding Israel, but God lured her away into 
the wilderness, and there, when forsaken and 
desolate, he spake comfortably unto her. 

The unrenewed soul has its idols and 



8 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

lovers, but God touches these, and the heart 
is bereft of its comforts. Earthly joy palls, 
and self-sufficiency is shaken. By means 
peculiarly his own, he lures away the heart 
from its worldly delights. By the leadings 
of his Spirit the heart is brought into the 
wilderness, carnal ease is gone, worldly com- 
forters have lost their power to charm. 
Their strength, which seemed equal to the 
overthrow of every difficulty, melts away. 
By the Spirit the self-righteous props are re- 
moved, and the evil passions, which seemed 
a few weak enemies, are seen and felt in their 
oppressive power. The law, that once talked 
as an encouraging friend, now terrifies with 
its curses. The holiness of God stands out 
with a consuming brightness, and Sinai, 
which before lay in harmless slumber, now 
breaks forth, and an awakened conscience 
and a lively sense of guilt echo painfully 
back all the thunders of wrath. 

Truly dark and hopeless is the valley of 
Achor, where God opens up to the true 
penitent the door of hope. Just where hu- 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 9 

man pride and self-righteousness die hope- 
lessly away, grace opens the door, and throws 
the light. Strange, yet perfect, is the econ- 
omy of grace. How it empties vain, im- 
portant man, and writes loss upon the things 
he counted gain ! His corn, and his wine, 
and his oil, his silver and gold lose all their 
lulling charm upon the heart. New moons, 
and Sabbaths, and solemn feasts fail to soothe 
the troubled conscience. Their trumpets, 
that once sounded out their fancied strength, 
and by a strange delusion appeared to de- 
molish all the walls that shut them from 
heaven, are powerless and uninspiriting. 
The proud heart slain by the law is in the 
dust, — dark and cheerless the prospect, as it 
looks within, hopeless and threatening, as it 
looks towards an angry God. Its boasted 
strength and fancied goodness have melted 
away. The once apparently few imperfec- 
tions of the heart, that scarcely invited a 
manly resistance, now rise up an overwhelm- 
ing force of wicked thoughts, carnal appe- 
tites, and corrupt passions. 



10 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

The soul is indeed in " the valley of 
Achor." So far as human power can reach, 
or human eye can see, all is dark and cheer- 
less ; and here, at the very verge of despair, 
heaven opens the door of hope. 

When the soul lets go its last hold upon 
its own strength and righteousness, and falls 
low and helpless before God, it discovers 
mercy's door, and sees heaven's cheering 
light. When Hagar makes her last effort 
for her boy, and turns away that she may 
not see him die, the angel speaks, her eyes 
are opened, the well is seen, her boy lives. 
When spiritual pride looking for the last 
time to her broken cisterns, turns from 
them to die, then mercy's angel speaks to 
the desponding soul, lifts it up, opens the 
way and leads it to the well of Bethlehem. 

Life and light enter the heart. The ho- 
rizon changes. The dread law becomes a 
peaceful gospel — the thundering Sinai be- 
comes distant and is hushed, and Calvary 
lies between. A Tabor rises up from the 
deepest darkness of Achor's valley. 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 11 

Cheering fact ! Where the lights of earth 
go out, there heaven's light falls and guides. 
Pleasing thought ! that the dying groans of 
the carnal heart are the birth song of the spi- 
ritual. How divine the wisdom, that places 
the open door just where man loses the way, 
and mistrusts every earthly path ! How in- 
finite the love to throw divine light upon 
the soul, just when it ceases to follow the 
luring and deceitful lights of earth, and is 
ready to sink down in rayless night ! 

Yes, to the penitent this valley of Achor 
is the door of hope. The soul, overwhelmed 
with a true sense of sin, may not at the time 
see it, or know that that godly sorrow, that 
emptiness of self, that lying hopeless and 
confounded in the dust was the strait gate — 
the threshold of eternal life. He knows it 
not, as he bemoans himself as lost, that his 
redeeming God is making his cheerless abase- 
ment and his hopelessness of feeling, the 
dawning of his spiritual day. Painful may 
be his wanderings, but let the penitent know, 
that when he lies humbled, abased, and lost, 



12 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

he is then at the "strait gate," yes, he has 
entered, and shall soon see, that the " valley 
of Achor was the door of hope." 

That afflictions shall work together for the 
good of the children of God, is no new 
thought in scripture, and has been the plea- 
sant experience of many of the righteous. 
The apparent contradiction — God makes 
trouble a blessing, has often been explained 
in the lives of those, who have gone up out 
of tribulation, and are before the throne. In 
our short-sightedness, we often call sweet 
bitter, and bitter sweet, or say when God 
works for our good, "All these things are 
against me." 

To our weak faith, it seems a strange mis- 
nomer to call sorrow joy, or the valley of 
trouble a door of hope. Still the history of 
patriarchs, of prophets, and indeed the his- 
tory of Israel is a running and distinct com- 
mentary on that very truth. 

Man, no doubt, often errs in his estimate 
of the providences of God ; and more especi- 
ally fails to see the father, when he holds the 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 13 

rod, or to see that to his children God makes 
their troubles a door of hope. 

After the easy conquest of Jericho, what 
a gloomy reverse to the Israelites must have 
been the discomfiture of Ai ! Yet Achor 
with its humbling defeat, — its detection and 
stoning of Achan, its purifying of the peo- 
ple, and causing them to lean more upon 
their God, did more to fit them for the en- 
joyment of Canaan, than their unlaboured 
triumph of Jericho. 

When man by the providence of God is 
brought into the valley of Achor, he then in 
his very troubles has the door of hope. 

Seasons have been, when the dark clouds 
were the hope of harvest. Sickness has been 
where free grief and bursting tears were the 
hope of health. The tree and the vine both 
have been, when pruning was life. 

Often thus the hope-destroying and plan- 
thwarting providences, are the rescuing and 
love-directed acts of a kind father. 

Infinite love takes a holy delight in 
making the hour of extremity, the hour of 
2 



14 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

help — the mount of danger the mount of de- 
liverance. It seems the pleasing recreations 
of divine mercy, to put out the alluring 
tapers of earth, and then surprise the soul in 
its darkness, by the steadier and safer light 
of heavenly love. Or to unloose and be- 
reave the affections, which fasten too strongly 
to the things of earth, and as they lie bleed- 
ing, he would raise, and purify them, and fix 
them upon himself. 

The dweller in the valley of Achor may 
not at the time recognize that his afflictions 
and thwarted plans are visits of mercy. The 
dim eye of faith cannot see it ; but the strong 
faith which embraces the promise, and the 
heart leaning upon his God shall see it. 

Sometimes the hurt and the balm, the 
thorn and the grace, the father's rod and the 
filial kiss, may so go together — the one, the 
earnest of the other — the first, but the shad- 
ing of the last — that the soul then feels God 
makes darkness light. 

How often at the time do the troubled 
only see the valley of Achor ! The eyes of 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 15 

Mary dim with tears can sadly see the empty 
sepulchre, but cannot see that its emptiness 
has put her risen Lord before her. Without 
living faith the day of trouble is dark and 
lowering. 

We are far too apt to recognize kindness 
only in the soft and familiar voice, forgetful 
of the fact, that once a brother's heart could 
only conceal its throbbings, and restrain its 
yearnings, by the assumed, rough voice of a 
stranger. We are too forgetful of the fact, 
that our divine Joseph often comes in di- 
vinest love, when he appears a stranger to 
our family and social joys, and speaks in the 
rough voice of providence. 

All know, that our richest valleys are 
where our highest mountains raise their 
heavy sides — that our purest waters are 
those, that leap and murmur along a rocky 
channel — that our freshest summer air is 
that, which is riven by the lightning, and 
shaken from its deep repose among the hills 
by the echoing thunder. Yet how forgetful 
are we that the lowest place at the cross is 



16 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

the most favoured spot to catch a bright 
view of the far distant, and rich glories of 
heaven ! How unmindful, that trial gives to 
the christian's clinging faith, a stronger and 
closer hold ; ' that as the wilderness howls, 
and grows dark, the spiritual bride leans 
more upon her Beloved! Who does not 
know that some of the purest feelings, and 
freshest joys of the heart, were when God by 
doubts, or fears, or thwarting providences 
waked the soul from a half lifeless security, 
or unblest repose ? 

Such promises, and their repeated fulfil- 
ment constitute the pillar of cloud to the 
true Israelite on his way to Canaan. As he 
follows the leadings of providence, his is the 
assurance, that his God will choose and mark 
the way. If the sea stretches before him, as 
he obeys the voice, " Go forward," the sea di- 
vides. In his journey he may pitch his tent 
where serpents bite, but the Redeemer plants 
near him the cross, and the venom has no 
effect. His path may bring him to Mara, 
but Mara is sweetened to him. 



THE VALLEY OF ACH0R. 17 

Chequered, infested, and hedged may seem 
his way, valley may give place to deeper 
valley, but heaven's promise — divine grace 
— holds a nearer place. Affliction may suc- 
ceed affliction, bereavement may chase be- 
reavement ; yet there is a brightness thrown 
over the affliction, and a comfort and sanc- 
tified strength in the bereavement, so that 
even the night has its songs — the valley of 
Achor a door of hope. While many afflict- 
ed ones could testify from their own expe- 
rience to these comforting truths, a little 
turning to the history of God's dealings 
with his people, may more strikingly exhibit 
the promise in Hosea. 

A difficulty arises in some minds from the 
prevalent but mistaken feeling, that the loved 
of heaven should be sheltered from trouble. 
Even David well nigh repined, as he saw 
the prosperity of the wicked, and the many 
afflictions of the righteous. 

Notwithstanding nature tells us the vine 
cannot be healthy, and flourish without prun- 
ing, and the silver cannot be refined without 



18 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

fire ; and although scripture tells us, " whom 
the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth 
every son he receiveth," man is so much 
the creature of sense, and so slow to walk 
by faith, that we stand amazed at the trials 
and afflictions God sends upon his people. 

God chooses his own way of sanctification, 
and this is wisely chosen and adapted. 
For some the way to the throne lies through 
tribulation. They are almost always in 
affliction, and there only is their safety and 
sanctification. 

The promise, " the valley of Achor for a 
door of hope," points rather to those upon 
whom sudden reverses had come. 

In the days of Hosea, Israel had affiliated 
with the world, and the worship of Baalim. 
Too well satisfied with her fulness, she knew 
not that God gave her corn and wine, and 
multiplied her silver and gold. Her cove- 
nant God would heal her backslidings, and 
renew to her his love. He blows upon, and 
blasts her idols and her earthly joys. He 
claims for himself and takes away the corn, 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOK. 19 

the wine, the wool, and the flax. He causes 
to cease her mirth, her feast days, and her 
new moons, and her Sabbaths. He makes 
a forest of her vines and fig-trees. Thus by 
their removal, he parts her from her idols 
and lovers. He brings her into the wilder- 
ness. There, her earthly fulness gone — her 
propping externals gone — bleak and comfort- 
less the heart, — Israel is brought where she 
will hear the voice of her forsaken God. In 
her fulness, she had no ear to hear. In her 
earthly and idolatrous joy, there was no ac- 
cess. Now in the cheerless wilderness, she 
remembers her God, and lo ! he speaks com- 
fortably unto her. 

Adverse and unkind appeared the pro- 
vidences of God, but it was infinite wisdom 
planning, and divine love accomplishing her 
return. Heavenly mercy turned her ensnar- 
ing vines and fig-trees into forests, and led 
her solitary to the wilderness ; there the un- 
accustomed ear listened to mercy's voice, 
and God gave her vineyards there, and wines 
upon the lees well refined. Again she sings 



20 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

the songs of her youth, and free from that 
cold distance and awing fear, she no more 
calls her God, Baali — my Lord, but with 
confiding love says, "Ishi — my husband." 
The valley of Achor was her door of hope. 

There are some galleries so constructed, 
as to converge sound and bring it to a single 
point. Out of that point is confusion. There 
the softest whisper may be heard. The con- 
verging point of infinite love, of divine 
promise, and mercy's whispers, is the vale of 
sorrow. There the soul, divinely afflicted, 
catches the gentlest breathings of heavenly 
grace. 

It is a law of nature, that sound can be 
farther heard, and more distinctly, in the 
valley than upon the mountain. It is a 
lovely law of grace, that the promises of the 
gospel, and the voice of mercy, are more 
frequent and cheering in the vale of sorrow 
— in the days of trouble — than upon the sum- 
mit of fulness and in the bright day of pros- 
perity. 

Affliction may seem a dark, burning glass, 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 21 

but when blest of God has the power to 
wonderfully concentrate the reviving and 
enlightening truths of God's word. 

Strange and often mysterious are the pro- 
vidences of God, and the arrangements of 
his grace. Man is humbled that he may be 
exalted, brought into darkness that he may 
find the light, disappointed for his gain, 
hedged up that he may find a path, in trouble 
that he may hope, afflicted that he may be 
blessed. The providences of our heavenly 
Father are often as the aged patriarch cross- 
ing his hands, when he blessed the sons of 
Joseph. 

The valley of Achor for a door of hope is 
more than the assurance, that " tribulation 
worketh patience," or that " all things work 
together for good to them that love God." 

It does not come to the child of sorrow 
and talk of good resulting from his trials, but 
in these crosses are the good. The blessings 
are in these hands that cross each other. The 
chastisement is the love. The stranger is 
Joseph. The apparent frown is the smiling 



22 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

face. These things may not be seen at the 
time except by the clear eye of faith, but 
they shall be known hereafter. Watch the 
dark, threatening cloud, and time will prove 
that in its darkness is the refreshing shower. 
Keep your eye fixed upon those black and 
ragged clouds of evening, and soon their 
blackness is lost in lovely hues, and their 
ragged edges are silvered with light. 

Let the afflicted spirit watch submissively 
the dark providence, and know that it carries 
refreshing grace. Fix steadily the eye of 
faith upon the frowning face, and see through 
the disguise the smiling Father. 

Go with Jacob down to his valley of 
Achor. " Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, 
and ye will take Benjamin away. All these 
things are against me." With your eye up- 
on " these things," tarry a while with the 
patriarch, and see in his very bereavements 
the divine forethought and infinite love of 
his God. The cloud brightens, against be- 
comes for. The things that threatened to 
bring his gray hairs to the grave were hea- 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOB. 23 

venly acts to save him and his children from 
famine, and secure him comfort in his old 
age. 

From Old Testament times, glean where 
you may from the history of God's afflicted 
ones, and you will find confirmed this cheer- 
ing interpretation of the promise. 

Poor Naomi ! gloomy indeed was her valley 
of Achor. Her Elimelech was taken. Her 
sons, Mahlon and Chilion, were gone. Her- 
self, a widow, and two widowed daughters- 
in-law dependent upon her. Distant her 
home, sad the journey — her lands in Israel 
were held by another — friends coldly asked, 
" Is this Naomi ?" She speaks the language 
of Achor's valley, " Call me not Naomi, call 
me Mara, for the Almighty hath dealt bitter- 
ly with me." 

Now from the house of Boaz, in Bethlehem, 
look back upon the widow's dark pathway, 
and see how it gleams with light. A Father's 
finger touched Elimelech and bereaved Euth 
of her Mahlon, and brought them in widow- 
hood and want to Bethlehem in the time of 



24 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

harvest. Their poverty was their blessing. 
Their self-dependence brought the youthful 
widow to the field of the reapers. The points 
the most gloomy in their history, become the 
most radiant with divine wisdom and love. 
Painful providences ! Blessed dispensations ! 
Three Israelites, the father and two sons, die 
in Moab, and the Moabitess Euth is brought to 
Bethlehem, that her loveliness might be em- 
balmed in scripture, and her name conse- 
crated in the genealogy leading to Jesus. 
Call me not Mara, but call me Naomi, for 
the Almighty has dealt kindly with me. 

Perhaps but few may see, at the time, good 
in their troubles, or even how they can work 
good. To any who would doubtingly ask, 
How can darkness be light, or trials blessings ? 
it might be sufficient to say, Walk by faith, 
trust in the promise of God. 

Let us rather go to the house of the Shu- 
nammite, and find an answer. Her son is 
dead. The prophet restores him, and her 
joy is full, her faith in God increased, and 
the mother's love tried and strengthened. 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 25 

But learn further how her very trials worked 
for her good. 

Gehazi stood by, as, in her deep bereave- 
ment, the prophet bowed down upon the lad 
and restored his life. Gehazi is driven lep- 
rous from his master. The Shunammite is 
forced away by famine from her home. Years 
had passed away, and the widow would re- 
turn and cry to the king for her land. 

In the nicely fitting providences of God, 
the darkest portions of her history are now 
the brightest. When the prophet bade his 
servant run, and lay his staff upon the child, 
she in her deep bereavement clung to the 
prophet. So they both — master and servant 
— went together. Thus Gehazi was made a 
witness of the miracle. Years afterwards 
the same overruling hand, that made him 
there the silent spectator, brought him be- 
fore the king, and put it into his heart to 
speak of the great works of his master. The 
story of the Shunammite and her restored son 
is just told, as she came, and cried to the 
king for her house, and for her land. And 



26 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

" Gehazi said, My lord king, this is the 
woman, and this is her son, whom Elisha 
restored to life." And the king directed, 
" Eestore all that was hers, and all the fruits 
of the field since the day she left the land, 
even until now." 

Some may at the time, some afterwards, 
some while here, and some not until they 
enter heaven, see their afflictions in their 
blessed light. None may fully know until 
they have gone up out of tribulation, and 
are before the throne, then with joy and 
thanksgiving, they behold the bright summits 
in their valley of Achor. 

Jacob no doubt saw upon earth the blessed- 
ness of being bereaved of Joseph. He may 
also, on his way to Ephratah, have felt the 
power of increased faith ; but possibly not 
until at home in heaven did he fully see the 
divine light and love that fell upon Eachel's 
grave. 

The future shall reveal the fulness of 
these disguised blessings. Then many of 
the sons and daughters of sorrow, to quicken 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 27 

their thanksgiving for delivering grace, may 
look back from their happy home on high, 
to see the gloomy Achors through which 
they came. Seen in heaven's light, they are 
all turned to Tabors. Their afflictions were 
blessings. Their disappointed plans and 
their earthly losses were disguised blessings 
from their heavenly Father. The withering 
of their gourds was the reviving of grace. 
The drying up of their earthly springs 
brought them to the well of Bethlehem. 

" These severe afflictions 

Not from the ground arise, 
But oftentimes celestial benedictions 

Assume the dark disguise. 
We see but dimly, through the mists and vapours, 

Amid these earthly damps. 
What seem to us like dim funereal tapers, 

May be heaven's distant lamps." 

Christian, you have no promise that afflic- 
tions shall not come, but you have the as- 
surance, that the darkest valley has light. 
Know, that according to the economy of 
God ? s grace, " The far more exceeding and 
eternal weight of glory," may have its be- 



28 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

ginning, and will have its maturity in those 
afflictions, which for the moment are not 
joyous, but grievous. The darkness of mys- 
terious providence is the pavilion of your 
covenant God. 

Afflicted one, get thee up. " Wherefore 
liest thou thus upon thy face ?" By these 
trials and troubles, thy God is preparing thee 
for triumph, and for heaven. 

Look up, and see the refiner sits before 
the refining pot, and applies heat not to con- 
sume the metal, but to remove the dross and 
make his image perfect. 

To the child of the covenant, all things 
work for his good. Sickness, bereavement, 
and death, are dark valleys without heaven's 
light, but full of hope to the called of God. 
He may take away luring and ensnaring 
idols, and let the heart feel its desolateness, 
that it may hear his voice, renew his love, 
and sing again the songs of spiritual espousal. 
External trials cannot make portionless, and 
should not make joyless, the heir of grace. 
He may say, " Although the fig-tree shall not 



THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 29 

blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines ; 
the labour of the olive shall fail, and the 
fields shall yield no meat ; the flock shall be 
cut off from the fold, and there shall be no 
herd in the stalls : yet will I rejoice in the 
Lord, I will joy in the God of my salva- 
tion." 

In death's valley, where so much darkness 
and terror reign, the child of God has his 
door of hope. Sad may be the sunderings, 
and painful may be the dissolving of the 
earthly house ; but he recognizes in it all 
the doings of Him, who said, " I will come 
again, and take you to myself." 

He has within him the pledge, that it is 
"gain to die." To him the trying hour 
changes to light. " The Lord is my Shep- 
herd—I will fear no evil, for thou art 
with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort 
me." 

Yes, christian, to you this last valley 
of Achor is a door of hope. Here the im- 
perfect becomes the perfect — the militant, 
the triumphant — the cross, the crown — to 
3* 



30 THE VALLEY OF ACHOR. 

die is gain. Death is stingless or rather to 
you— 

" There is no death ; what seems so is transition, 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but the suburb of the life elysian, 
Whose portals we call death." 



THE 

CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD 



ORDERED IN WISDOM AND LOVE. 

(31) 



THE 



The crossed hands of Jacob, as he blesses 
the sons of Joseph, are very significant of 
the providences and grace of God. Man is 
short-sighted. God sees the end from the 
beginning, and directs wisely, often thwart- 
ing the plans of man. The unexpected man- 
ner of the patriarch's blessing may serve as 
an illustration of the doings of providence, 
showing that those doings are not chance, 
but the wise acts of Him, who knows. 

In Israel the law of primogeniture pre- 
vailed. There was an honour and pri- 
vilege pertaining to the first-born — a larger 
patrimony, the family name, the father's 
blessing, the hope of being in the line lead- 

(33) 



34 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

ing to the Messiah. The profane Esau alone 
was reckless of his birthright. 

The right hand was the more honourable, 
and a seat there was a mark of distinction. 
Benjamin, " the son of the right hand," is a 
name expressive of his nearness and dear- 
ness to his father. The laying of the right 
hand upon the head was significant of con- 
secration or blessing. "Thou shalt bring 
the Levites before the Lord, and the children 
of Israel shall put their hands upon the Le- 
vites.' 7 "Joshua, the son of Nun, was full 
of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid 
his hand upon him." So in setting apart 
deacons, " they prayed, and laid their hands 
upon them." So Christ, as he parted with 
his disciples, " lifted up his hands and bless- 
ed them." 

The right hand is the symbol of power, 
of consecration, and of blessing, and at the 
right hand sit the blessed. 

In conformity with that law of honour to 
the first-born, and of power in the right 
hand, and according to the good patriarchal 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 35 

custom of the aged blessing the young, or 
the dying giving their benediction to their 
children, — we find, as the aged Jacob, now 
dwelling with his long lost Joseph, was 
about to die, Joseph would have his father 
bless his sons. He leads them to his father, 
now dim of sight, bringing Manasseh the 
elder to Jacob's right hand. 

Joseph comes with his plans of respect 
and honour for the first-born. He seeks the 
blessing, but he had planned in his own 
mind, how and where they should be dis- 
tributed, and thus he comes to his father. 

None could accuse Jacob of a want of love 
for Joseph and his sons. His heart seems 
full, as he kissed and embraced them, and 
said, " I had not thought to see thy face, and 
lo, God hath also showed me thy seed." 

The natural eye of the old man is dim, but 
he has a prophetic view of the future, and 
he guides his hands wittingly, as he stretches 
the right across the left, and rests it upon 
the head of Ephraim. Joseph, strong in the 
eastern prejudices of primogeniture, and per- 



86 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

haps partial to his first-born Manasseh, was 
displeased, and held up his father's right 
hand from the head of Ephraim, that he 
might remove it to the head of Manasseh, 
and said, " Not so, my father, for this is the 
first-born ; put thy right hand upon his 
head." 

The decided rebuke, so kindly uttered in 
the father's answer, might often be addressed 
by our heavenly Father to those, who would 
change his providences, as though they were 
unwise, or he were ignorant of the circum- 
stances : " / know it, my son, I know it. 11 

Joseph, in his preconceived views, and in 
his movement to teach his father how to 
bless his sons, is a fair type of man under 
thwarting providences. The quiet answer 
has also its exhortation, " Trust in my wis- 
dom and love." 

Generally when man comes before God, 
professedly to ask blessing, he has his plans, 
his right-hand favourites. He comes that 
these maybe confirmed and prospered. These 
preferences and desires may be all right, for 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 37 

man is not made to be indifferent as to what 
he is, or to what he has, nor to wish without 
point or reason. Neither is it strange, that 
the heart should be set upon plans, formed, 
so far as he can see, wisely, and for his good. 
He only errs when he is unwilling, that in- 
finite wisdom should overlook, and if neces- 
sary change his plans. The child may have 
his desires, and tell his wishes ; but he should 
be willing that the father, who is wiser, and 
loves him, should give, withhold, or modify, 
as he sees best. 

It is well to discriminate between the pro- 
vidences of God, and our own wrong actions. 
A man may be displeased at himself, because 
of wrong that he might have hindered ; but 
he may not be rebellious at the providences 
of God, which thwart the desires of his heart. 
In every-day duties and comforts, there are 
many things that seem so plain, that man is 
ready to think, a different arrangement would 
be an act of ignorance or unkindness. So 
Joseph thought, when he lifted the right 
hand of his father from the head of Ephraim. 



38 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

So Joshua and his men thought, when flushed 
with victory at Jericho, they went up 
and were defeated at Ai. So Peter thought, 
when he drew the sword, and smote off the 
right ear of Malchus. 

When providences come athwart all our 
views of comfort, and change our aims, and 
dash our well matured plans for good, and 
our fondest hopes ; then often even the cove- 
nant child of God is disposed to put aside 
the hand and to say, not in the way of en- 
treaty, but rather instructing the Almighty, 
" Not so, my Father," this is my first-born. 
Joseph is not charged with rebellion. His 
preconceived opinions were so strong, that 
he thought his dim-sighted father mistook 
Ephraim for Manasseh. Thus thinking, he 
is a better type of those, who, under sorely 
thwarting providences, can scarcely refrain 
the thought, these are the doings of short- 
sightedness or of feeble love. Joseph was 
silent, as his father justified the act, by de- 
claring prophetically the future greatness of 
Ephraim. 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 39 

Joseph who had been sold, that he might 
save alive his father and brethren — he who 
had been in prison, that he might come to the 
throne, was not the man to doubt a dark and 
crossing providence. He had learned to be- 
lieve that God knew and did all things well. 
Here, however, he thought it was his father's 
mistake through blindness, or not fully 
knowing his sons, that made him stretch his 
left hand with its less blessing to the head of 
the first-born. 

There is something in the manner, as well 
as the spirit of the father's reply, well befitting 
a wise providence, when finite man with his 
preconceived views would murmur or rebel, 
as though God was ignorant of the circum- 
stances. How generally man would acqui- 
esce in the providences of God, were they 
but a confirming of his plans, or a fulfilling 
of his wishes ! It is natural and right that 
man should have his prepossessions, and it 
is certainly right that the arrangements of 
to-day should look to the duties of to-mor- 
row. A provident man looks beyond the 



40 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

present, and it is incumbent upon him to 
plan as seems to him best. Where he has 
pondered well, it is not strange that he 
should be slow to yield to human foresight 
no greater than his own. The error is, that 
he becomes so confirmed and wrapt up in 
his own plans, and the objects they embrace, 
that he is disposed to counsel the All-wise, 
and to deem those providences that thwart 
his own views and devisings, as unwise and 
unkind. 

Man will acknowledge a special providence 
when it harmonizes with his own wishes, or 
when he can see the immediate good, but is not 
willing to yield to divine control, unless he 
can at once comprehend or have the good. 
With him, his thoughts and ways are as 
settled as in the Bast were the rights of pri- 
mogeniture. 

As Joseph led his sons to his father, ar- 
ranged, without a doubt in his mind, just as 
they should be blessed, so man goes to his 
God, his mind decided as to what would be 
mercy and what an evil. His pursuits, the 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OP GOD. 41 

objects of his affection, all the things dear to 
his heart are presented, with a confidence 
that, just in the way he has arranged, they 
ought to be blessed. 

If the divine hand were to employ itself 
in preventing evils we foresaw, but could 
not in ourselves escape, then we would praise 
the wisdom, and be satisfied. If God were 
only to commission death to remove those 
who had outlived their days of usefulness 
and comfort, or those who were friendless 
and cheerless, few or none would stay the 
hand, and say, "Not so." Or were he to 
make his left hand empty of blessings, and 
lay it upon the head of those who trampled 
upon his law and defaced society, all would 
acquiesce in his wisdom and justice. 

Whenever God does not cross our paths, 
or our views of what is right, and for the 
good of ourselves and those we love, he acts 
wisely ; but of all else we hesitate to recog- 
nize the wisdom and kindness. 

Murmuring at the thwarting providences 
of God has at its very foundation the wrong 
4* 



42 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

view, that we are entitled to favour at the 
hand of God ; and next is the half-acknow- 
ledged thought, that all the connecting cir- 
cumstances and deep feelings of the heart 
were not known, or the heavenly love was 
feeble. 

The confidence of Jacob, and his tender- 
ness so well uttered in the language, " I know 
it, my son, I know it," exactly represent 
what God claims in the control of his chil- 
dren, and what man must admit, if he ac- 
knowledges a covenant God. His all-seeing 
eye can see how step depends upon step, and 
his infinite wisdom teaches how and when 
to change the path. 

He knows how prosperity, and how ad- 
versity will tell upon the heart of each child 
— what the immediate, and what the distant 
results of their plans. None, who own him 
as the All-wise, can object to his claim of 
knowledge. All must bow, when he claims, 
" I know it." But to have the cheerful ac- 
quiescence, the heart must receive all — "My 
son, I know it." It must include the love 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 43 

with the wisdom. He not only knows how 
to plan, but has the promptings of a father to 
guide him. 

Joseph, I know that this is Manasseh your 
first-born upon my right hand, and, my son, 
your sons are dear to me, " I had not thought 
to have seen your face, and God has shown 
me your seed." Your children are my chil- 
dren, but God has shown me, that thus, by 
my right hand upon Ephraim, shall accrue 
the richer blessing to your family and to the 
household of Israel. 

At the time God may not always show the 
reason or the good, but he would have his 
children so confide in his wisdom and love, 
as not to doubt under the darkest dispensa- 
tions. " All things work together for good to 
them that love God." For those who doubt 
it and would repine, claiming that there are 
so many reasons, why the providence should 
have been different, where shall we find a 
more decided yet milder rebuke ; than in the 
touching language of Jacob? Infinite in 



44 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

wisdom and in love, his thoughts are not as 
our thoughts. 

There is one in the tremblings of old age. 
Life is well nigh a burden, and he longs for 
the Master's coming. Near by, perhaps in 
the same house, is the child of bright eye, 
and dimpled cheek, and merry laugh — " the 
well-spring of the house," the joy of parents, 
who know how to care for, and train the 
little one. Their heavenly Father comes, 
and his hands are crossed. The life-preserv- 
ing and upholding hand is stretched to the 
trembling old man, while the hand that 
loosens the heart strings and chills life, is 
upon the babe. Distressed parents would 
cry, " Not so, not so." Here is the aged, 
useless in this life, waiting to be called, and 
before this our child is long life, a bright 
career, and our hearts are bound to him with 
all their freshest and tenderest ties. In his 
life are centered our highest hopes, and our 
prayer is, that he may here serve God. " I 
know it, my children, I know it." I see the 
man of palsied limbs and enfeebled mind. 






THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 45 

I see this child nestling in your affections. 
I know your hopes, and what your bereave- 
ment would be. I see, too, what your child 
would be if spared, and how he would engage 
your affections and efforts. I do these things 
not through ignorance, but because I know, 
and because I have a father's love for you. 
I uphold the old man that his patience may 
have its perfect work, and that his feebleness 
may admonish the strong to use their strength 
and youth aright, for old age lies beyond: 

There again is one of unbalanced mind, 
and in the babblings of idiocy, he spends 
his years, the sport of the rude and the 
grief of friends, apparently a painful blank 
in creation. By his side, perhaps in the 
same family, is one of bright and acute 
mind. In social duties, and in the hearts of 
kindred, he fills a large place. His position, 
his prospective usefulness, the affection of 
others, would present him to the right hand 
for the blessings of long life. The hands of 
providence are crossed, and life is upon the 
head of the idiot, while the cold hand of 



46 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

death is upon the broad brow of useful 
mind. Not merely affection, but all the 
views of human wisdom rise up, and coun- 
sel, " Not so," — let useful mind live, and let 
the mindless be taken. All the preposses- 
sions of man would hasten to tell God, 
of position and use and endearment. To all 
which, heavenly wisdom may reply, "I 
know it." I too love society, and care for 
the ties that are natural. I may bless so- 
ciety by holding before them this imbecile, 
that they may see their indebtedness, that 
such is not their state ; and I may remove 
the strong mind, that they may make God 
and not man their trust. 

You may have seen the poor orphan, 
homeless and friendless — none to weep for 
it should it die, and no kindred hand to 
guide it should it live, only cared for by 
temptation and sin. Near it is the only son 
of a fond mother, cared for by her deep love, 
guided by her pious counsels, and hereafter 
the needed prop of her old age. In the pro- 
vidence of God the orphan is spared, and the 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 47 

hand of death is upon him — the love, and the 
hope of the mother. Affection, dependence, 
and the wisdom that is of this world, cry, " Not 
so," and plead to reverse the providences. 
Yet He, who rules wisely and loves tenderly, 
changes not his dispensations. For the richer 
displays of comforting and strengthening 
grace, for a lesson to others of the uncer- 
tainty of earth's comforts, and their need of 
the heavenly, perhaps in infinite love to a 
doting mother, perhaps to the too well loved 
and too much indulged son, — God saw best 
to remove him. That orphan boy may be 
spared to exemplify, by a good life, God's 
protecting care of the fatherless, or by a bad 
life, to teach others the blessings of parental 
guidance. 

Inexhaustible is the wisdom, and boundless 
the love of our heavenly Father, and a thou- 
sand reasons, hidden from us, are seen by 
him, why he should cross the plans, and dash 
the hopes of his children ! — His providences 
are prompted by love, and planned in infinite 
wisdom. 



48 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

God would have his children believe this, 
and not rush with rash hands or dis- 
pleased hearts to reverse his doings, and thus 
charge the All-wise with not knowing, or a 
heavenly Father with not caring for, the 
feelings of his children. How often to 
rebuke his murmuring people, may he use 
the language, " I know it, ray son, I know it !" 

The circumstances, the relations of life, 
the prop, or the dependence are all known 
to me. My son, I know your heart in all 
its affections and ties, for I made the heart. 
I know the endearing traits of your child, 
for I gave it that loveliness. I know its 
promise and your hopes, but I knew what 
lay before it and you, and for its safety, and 
to spare you an anguished heart, I took him. 

God does not demand that man should be 
indifferent to the ties of relationship, or to 
the things that promise joy. No, he may 
weep at disappointment, he may feel bereave- 
ment ; but let him believe in the love of his 
God, and that there can be no endearment or 
dependence unknown to him, and when he 



THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 49 

reaches forth his hand contrary to the wishes 
and plans of man, know it to be the rescuing 
act of love. 

The son may feel the smarting rod, but 
the loving heart of the Father feels it also. 
I know this is the loved idol of your heart. 
I know that the joys of your home centered 
there ; but, my son, I know this continued is 
neither for my glory nor your good. Will 
you arraign my providence as the act of 
ignorance and unkindness ? 

Can you look upon the displays of hea- 
venly wisdom that founded the way of sal- 
vation, or upon the love that gave my well 
beloved Son a sacrifice to make you my 
child, and with these before you, doubt my 
wisdom and love, as I choose the way to 
bring you to heaven ? 

Can you hear the voice of the heavens 
and the earth as they speak of my wisdom, 
and then pretend to teach me in the family 
circle ? Can you look upon the Son of my 
bosom, as he hangs upon the cross for you, 
and doubt my love for you? Must the 



50 THE CROSS PROVIDENCES OF GOD. 

dying Jacob lift his hands from the heads of 
Ephrairn and Manasseh, and prove to Joseph 
his love, by recounting his deep sorrow in 
Canaan, when he " was not," or his joy, when 
it was told him, "Joseph is yet alive?" 
Must he recall their meeting at Goshen ? — 
Joseph, you and your children are dear to 
this heart, but God hath shown me the glory 
of Ephraim. 

Son of the covenant, need your heavenly 
Father point you to the undying evidences 
of his love, to make you submissive to the 
dispensations you cannot understand ? Must 
he who created nature with its ties, the heart 
with its affections, relationship with its sup- 
port and dependence, prove that he knows 
their strength and tenderness? You may 
love your own, you may weep under bereave- 
ment, and feel disappointment, but never 
doubt God's love for his children. He may 
cross his hands, and thwart your cherished 
plans, and should your heart say, " Not so," 
and begin to instruct him, hear the gentle 
rebuke, " / know it, my son, I know it." 



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